Parachute
by Lawlei
Summary: Ron and Hermione have been married for a few years, and so have Ginny and Harry, but with both couple's relationship's on the rocks, and a lie contained in the physical form of a child, Needy, will Harry and Hermione go back to their past?COMP,NO RETURN.
1. Chapter 1

Hermione walked the familiar walls again, rather slower than she would have 'back in the day' , carrying two or three more things that she would have then, too. Though, Hermione was not alone, she was accompanied by a small toddler – her reason for walking rather erratically. Dressed in possibly countless layers, the small, mousy haired toddler tried to break free from Hermione's grasp, but, however failed in her attempts. However, Hermione simple smiled a bright smile, sighed and declared ''Sorry, Needy. No running off and exploring here, Mummy has to talk to some people.'' To which little Needy frowned, beginning to sulk. However, Hermione simply dismissed this, reaching her desired destination, a large, wooden door, arched at the top, that held a rectangular golden plated sign, printed with the word ''HEADMISTRESS'' in capitals.

Hermione took one last look down towards Needy, smiling, ''Okay, this is it. '' Hermione started, giving a light squeeze on the young one's hand. ''Now, I will be keeping an eye on you, so don't you dare try anything funny behind my back, okay?'' To which Needy nodded rather innocently. So Hermione took a long, deep breath and used her free, rather pinky coloured hand to open the door, slightly struggling to push her weight on the handle.

She entered slowly, the oh-so-familiar headmistress now coming into view. She wore a long, thin pointed hat, all dressed in dark colours, and glasses, easily surrounding her eyes. She looked up from her desk, smiling warmly at first sight of Hermone. "Ah! Hello! Oh, do sit down." She started, gesturing towards a large chair before her own desk. " Oh, and the young one can go sit by there, and pull up a chair." Hermione nodded, doing as the woman asked her for the first time in years, before finding her own chair. The woman moved her position in her chair, moving her glasses further down her nose to get a good look at Hermione before arranging a few pieces of paper into a pile and placing them before Hermione.

''Miss Granger'' she began, looking down through her glasses at her. ''I trust these papers will help you.'' However, she was rudely interrupted by the sniggers of Needy, now sat in the corner of the slightly small room. Hermione turned sharply and quickly towards Needy, giving her a typical motherly stern look, which, ultimately changed Needy's expression to that of someone that might have just been hit in the face with a pan. Hermione turned towards the desk again, smiling brightly once more.

''Oh, actually, Mcgonagall.'' Hermione started, however interrupted by Mcgonagall.

''Miss Granger, you are far old enough now – it's Minerva, now. ''

Hermione winced at the mention of 'Miss Granger', trying her hardest to keep a straight and professional face throughout. ''Ah, alright'' she began, a usual slightly posh sounding tone to her voice. ''It's...it's Mrs Weasley now, Minerva." Hermione smiled, showing her ring. Pretty simple, a small stone, nothing much more. If anyone ever thought the Weasleys were flashy, they were ultimately mistaken.

Minerva sighed, eyeing Hermione up and down, peering at her throw of woolly looking clothes and warm and pastel colours. ''Should have known,'' she stated, ''There's Weasley written all over you, now. '' Hermione rolled her eyes, she wasn't particularly happy when people noticed this about her, now. She looked back at Minerva, however, raising her eyebrows noticing Minerva now looking at Needy, almost pointing at her. ''Though'' she started again, now fully pointing straight toward Needy, whom was now pouting back at Minerva. ''There's not much Weasley in her, '' Hermione took a sharp breath, her palms becoming sweaty almost instantly. She pulled down her scratchy woolly sleeves to hide it, looking rather awkward, before Minerva concluded. ''No, no! She looks more like a Potter.'' Needy pouted even harder at this, folding her arms quickly. ''Yes...yes. Definitely.''

Hermione gasped under her breath, of which Minerva noticed. She turned to Needy and decided to gather her up, and carried her into the neighbouring room, of which alternate supervision was arranged, while Hermione sit almost still, holding back unwanted tears. Minerva returned, holding back her own urge to console Hermione as if she were the student she once taught. She just resorted to sighing, taking on a softer –tone while slowly lowering herself into her creaky, old chair.

''Tell me, Hermione.'' As Hermione looked up, Minerva smiled brightly, but Hermione frowned, ''Something happened with him, didn't it?" As Minerva said this, the former Granger let go a small tear, ''And I know what it is...it's her, isn't it?''

She couldn't take it anymore, Hermione _had_ to leave. She got up and collected her things in a hurry, some of them escaping in the process, much to her annoyance. '''Minerva, I am so very s-sorry. I just...I can't talk about this, " To which Minerva nodded.

"Go on, Hermione, you start after Christmas – Transfiguration, of course."

Hermione entered the next room, and collected Needy in her arms.

''Come on, darling, let's go see Daddy, yes?" Hermione asked the small Potter – ish toddler as she left, thanking Minerva and carefully leaving as swift as humanely possible. She knew she had to do _something_.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione eventually returned home to her rather quaint little home, just in time to catch Ron before he went out to fetch something for himself. Walking into the kitchen, Hermione finally placed Needy down again, most of the journey back, Hermione held onto Needy so tightly that at times it probably hurt the young child.

Placing her never – ending – weight of bags on a free kitchen side, Hermione called for Ron. "Ron! " She simply called, first, stopping half between the kitchen and the living room, peering for a few moments around the house – although there couldn't be many places he could be, it was rather small.

She eased up a tiny morsel when Ron cheerfully replied , striding through the living room to meet her, ''Hi, Honey? What is it? How did your thingy..uh..go?" He asked, looking very cheerful, which made Hermione very uneasy.

She looked at him a moment, not even up and down, just straight towards his still slightly freckled face, before she realised she ought to be replying before things got too suspicious too quickly. ''Oh, umh, forget about that for now – I need you to keep Needy with you, I need to go pick up some stuff, I'll be back in a few hours..''Hermione trailed off, reliving how Minerva had actually noticed Needy's traits, and Ron hadn't. ''So...that's okay?''She asked, widening her eyes in an innocent looking way.

Ron simply nodded, still looking over-cheery. ''Now, whenever is it a problem? Of course, I'll keep her here for me to take care of, we need some Daddy-Needy time, don't we?''

To Hermione, it felt right at that moment like she was back in Malfoy Manor, taken advantage of and all the pain she ever felt from it came blasting right back in one swift hit. She zoned – out, again, however this time, Ron noticed.

''Everything alright, love?''

''Yes...yes, just...uh, need some air, is all, you know how it is.'' _Dammit_, she thought, _I really can be such a bad liar at the entirely wrong times. _

However, it seemed to work, as Ron simply nodded, scooping Needy up as Hermione left and strode out of the door, this time, forgetting her ever growing amount of bags. The one thing she took with her was the knowledge of where she just simply _needed_ to go:

The Potters.


	3. Chapter 3

Eventually, she arrived, coming up to the patent chocolate-box-y looking house much more bigger and taken care of than her own, and however much she tried to hide it, Hermione accepted the fact she had fallen in love with that house. But this was the Potter household, she felt it a sin to love something that would never be hers.

Now at the doorway, she braced herself, sighing deeply before going to knock on the door. However, Mrs Weasley was too late, as the door swung open, revealing a small – ish red haired woman, dressed rather like a muggle, which was strange, and in a trench coat. –Ginny. Her eyes were red and her pale face blotchy, a sign she had been crying – again.

''Hermione!'' Ginny stated – the obvious. Her voice was weak, and Hermione was suddenly reminded of something she said to Harry in their sixth year. ''I'm just about to leave, umh, but H-Harry is..is just in there – I'm sure he can deal with what you need.'' Ginny faked a smile before passing Hermione and walking to the end of her small front- garden, turning left before apparating.

Hermione watched the whole time, before turning to the open doorway and sighing. She figured Harry and Ginny were still unhappy – _great_, she thought, _that'll make him harder to get through to, at least_.

She entered as quietly as possible, closing the door quietly, too. She stopped to look around for Harry, no success. She turned to enter the Potter's living room, surrounded by warm colours, bulky furniture and countless books dotted everywhere. Surely enough, the Boy Who Lived stood, eyeing a bookcase, away from Hermione. Seeing as he hadn't really noticed her, Hermione was certain she was just quiet enough.

''What did I say to you before? '_'She's been crying again, look at her eyes_'' It seems you didn't notice,'' Hermione stated, an unusual way to start a conversation, but the whole damn world was unusual for most, if not all of their lives.

Harry jolted around, Hermione's stern, but however still kindly voice ringing in his ears. His eyes widened at the sight of her, unable to move or say anything for a moment. Then, he spoke for the first time.

''Hermione!'' Again – stating the blatantly obvious.

Hermione didn't smile her usual clean, kind smile as usual, this time, her face was blank. ''Harry'' she replied, stern still, barely any emotion there at all, like a blank slate.

Harry blinked – he hadn't seen Hermione in so long, he almost forgot her face, - the face he saw every day all those years back in the day. He wanted to go and hug her, but by the look glued to her face, he figured now was not the best time to act civil. ''I umh, is there a problem, Hermione?'' Harry eventually asked, his voice uncertain.

''Yes, actually'' Hermione began, an alien confidence seeping though. ''Something has been wrong for about, oh, one and a half years now?" Hermione was confused, confident, angry, upset, the whole package. She thrust a small picture of young Needy, of which she is twirling around, her mousy hair and patent dress following her, right in front of Harry's face.

He took it between his fingers, utterly puzzled. ''What on earth is this, Hermione?'' He asked, almost shouting.

Hermione couldn't take it any longer, all her anger ever bottled up before, was beating at her mind to escape, and this was taking a huge advantage of her. ''This!'' She began, anger and tears could flood at any moment. ''This, is the product of _us_!'' She eventually shouted.

Harry knew exactly what she meant. Harry and Ginny had been like this for a very long time, about, a couple of years, now. However, about a' year and a half' ago, Harry simply couldn't take it anymore – and called upon Hermione to 'drop on by' to talk about things – and talk they did, some rather too much.

Harry soon discovered Hermione felt wary of Ron, they had been trying for a baby for some time, the, but just couldn't seem to conceive at all, and Hermione felt she couldn't take the hold she thought Ron had on her anymore.

Old feelings also came to light, old feeling Harry and Hermione had for each other – and that night sparked them all up again, and in a heated, confused, upset and slightly angry mess of a night, Hermione and Harry ended up having a sort – of – one – night – stand, and they hadn't met up since, mainly, embarrassment.

Harry placed his hand to his forehead, his face now bearing an open hole – his mouth. He eyed the picture carefully for a few moments. ''But how do you know?'' He asked, rushing his words and messing up a few times.

Hermione sighed, going for her baggy trouser pocket, hunting for more pictures. Sure enough, a few more appeared, highlighting things the young one had done. Hermione passed them to Harry. ''Can't you...see? Take a good look, and open your eyes, there's Potter written all over her to me. ''

If Harry's mouth could have hung any wider, it would have done, as he started to realise it. Instead, his green eyes just grew wider, and his hand moving to his scraggy hair. ''D-..does Ron know? Oh, oh gosh, that's why you're here, isn't it?" Harry asked in a hurry once more, 'panic mode' was setting in on his mental emotions machine.

Hermione shook her head, frantically. ''No,'' she began, bracing herself, still, the events from earlier that day were still haunting her. ''But...umh, people are starting to notice.''

Harry frowned, almost pouting like Needy had done. ''Which...which people, Hermione?''

''Well'' she began '' Let's just say, earlier I went to see if my job application to teach at Hogwarts was – uh, accepted. And McGonagall oh, er, Minerva, even noticed as soon as I declared myself as Mrs Weasley...'' Hermione sighed, her own eyes wide, longing for Harry to reply, with anything.

He had stopped – dead. He decided to take the sub-subject away from Hogwarts, and to focus upon the child – his child, his _first_ child, to be precise, his own. Little. Girl.

''What's her name?'' He managed to pit out, rather quickly, taking Hermione by surprise.

''Oh..umh'' She came to terms with the only slight, but however meaningful randomness to the question before deciding to answer. ''Anita, although, everyone prefers to call her Needy, these days,''

For the first time, Harry smiled, actually smiled. ''When's her birthday?'' He asked, now rather confident again. '_Potter-confidence' _Hermione went to sit down almost immediately, and buried her head in her hands. The smiled was wiped from Harry's face, as he rushed to console her-maybe too quickly. ''What, Hermione? You can tell me."

Hermione looked up, straight into Harry's seemingly sparking green eyes. ''O-...'' she didn't want to carry on, but she knew she had to. ''October 31st.'' She blurted out, an array of tears came flowing the moment she said the words. She thought it was just typical, how a date remember by Harry as being the night his parents died was now a cause for new life – his new life, partly.

Harry stopped, getting up again – still holding the pictures of Needy Hermione passed to stood up before Hermione, watching her tears fall onto the fluffy cream coloured carpet below, he took one last good look at the pictures – still trying to register everything that Hermione believed to be true about the child.

A moment later, his eyes were full of tears, full on tears, something he hadn't experienced for quite some time, even the times he and Ginny fought – which were becoming more and more frequent – he always stayed calm, he never cried, never anything – numb, even. However, the amount of emotions he ran through just in the time Hermione was there completely astounded him. ''Open your eyes.'' She has told him, and finally, he did.

Slowly, Harry moved closer to Hermione, whom however never noticed, her tears were taking over her. He kneeled before her – well, more crouched than anything else.

''She's beautiful'' Harry started, causing Hermione to look up pretty quickly. Tears made her eyes red, her face blotchy, just like Ginny as she left. ''Almost just as beautiful as you, Hermione, and I see that now.'' Harry concluded.

Hermione's waterfall of tears couldn't have stopped more abruptly. She widened her eyes, confused, as Harry's teary expression shifted to that of a teary smile. A moment passed and Hermione watched his wide, slightly warming smile. Harry, still knelt, placed his palm on Hermione's knee, gently moving his thumb in a sort of calm, warming way.

Neither of them knew what in the world they were doing, their consciences were on holiday – together, it seemed. For a moment, they just looked at each other, like, really looked at each other, as if they were looking for traits in each other, and maybe they were? Maybe they were finding whichever parts of Needy they had in each other? Neither of them knew, they just did it.

And then, something they both could not explain happened – they leapt on each other, like really leapt. Harry stood up, while Hermione sort of instinctively wrapped her legs around him. They kissed each other, time and time again, changing every now and then, one minute, what you would call normal, on the mouth makeout as such, and the next, Hermione would break free from Harry's lips, and plant sort kisses all along his neck, and then, she was suddently reminded of that night- the night Harry gave her the one thing she could never hate, the one thing she would always thank him for, and the one thing that would always tie him, to her. – Needy.


End file.
